The Oslo district court, on Thursday, October 20, ruled in favor of Magnus Granath in the lawsuit between him and Craig Wright.
There is nothing defamatory about saying that Craig Wright is not Satoshi, just as there is nothing defamatory about saying that I am not Satoshi. There is nothing inherently wrong with not being Satoshi. 1/4
— David "JoelKatz" Schwartz (@JoelKatz) October 24, 2022
The ruling stemmed from Wright claiming that Magnus had defamed his name by saying he was not Satoshi.
Magnus had sued Craig to counteract his plan to sue him for defamation in the United States, which could lead to huge fines because of their policy to favor the plaintiff in such cases.
Craig Wright, who is an Australian computer scientist and the founder of Bitcoin SV, claimed to be a significant part of the team that created Bitcoin and also the face behind the mysterious Satoshi Nakamoto.
But several News bodies and crypto community members strongly disagree with him due to a lack of concrete proof to back his claim.
The computer scientist sued Magnus, popularly known on Twitter as Hodlonaut, due to his series of tweets in 2019.
In one of such tweets, he called Craig Wright a “Scam” and “fraud” for failing to prove that he is Nakamoto.
Judge Helen Engebrigsten, who ruled in favor of the defendant, also pointed out that the evidence presented by the plaintiff’s lawyer is insufficient to support his claim.
Also, the court added that the defendants’ tweets were protected by freedom of speech, prohibiting Wright from suing him on defamation charges based on tweets.
She also agrees that words like “scam and fraud” are appropriate and fair to describe Craig’s claim.
The court also ordered Wright to pay Granath a fine of $ 4,053,750, which is about $383,000 in US dollars.
Crypto enthusiast David Schwarts also tweeted in the early morning of October 24 that nothing is defamatory about saying Craig Wright is not Satoshi.
Wright’s lawyer, however, is keen on appealing the ruling, with claims that letting Granath off the hook so easily can lead to cyberbullying in the pretense of freedom of speech.
